Klipsch Suing 23 Chinese Companies

Klipsch Group Inc has announced that it plans on taking legal action against 23 identified parties, all of whom originate in China, who are associated with the manufacturing and selling of counterfeit Klipsch Image S4 and S4i headphones under the Klipsch brand name.

On December 16, 2011, the company received an order from US District Court allowing the suspension of service to domains and sellers on trade boards selling counterfeit Klipsch headphones.

“KGI has noticed a dramatic increase in counterfeit activities over the past six months, and as a result, has intensified its efforts to battle this very serious issue,” said Mike Klipsch, president of global operations for KGI, whose role includes running KGI’s headphone business.

“Obviously, counterfeiting can have a negative impact on our sales, but more importantly, counterfeiters are selling inferior products that reflect very negatively on the Klipsch brand. Our intellectual property is one of our greatest assets and we will continue to protect it to the full extent of the law.”

Among other remedies, KGI can seek up to $2 million per trademark, per defendant, as well as injunctions to take down the relevant websites and seller listings and prevent the defendants from counterfeiting Klipsch brand products in the future.

Among the efforts taken to counteract the counterfeiters by Klipsch include carrying out daily purchases to identify counterfeit sellers; issuing dozens of cease-and-desist letters; training US Custom officers to be able to identify the counterfeit products and employing private investigators in North America, Europe and Asia.

A total of 23 defendants are specifically named in the suit, including at least eight unique websites and 27 seller listings on trade boards, online marketplaces and business-to-business websites. Examples include Focalprice.com and wsdeal.com, and sellers listed on Alibaba.com, AliExpress.com, DIYTrade.com, DHGate.com and Components-Electronic.com.